It all started when my 4 year old was waking up at the crack of dawn, day after day. She could not read the time yet on her clock and she judged time by light and dark. It’s a great idea – except it gets light outside real early in the summertime. I was simply losing my mind from figuring out how to train her to understand when she should be going back to sleep, when it’s ok to play quietly, and when it’s perfectly alright to jump headfirst into my bed and cuddle (until the crazy morning routine begins…).

It was at around that time that ZaZu informed us at PishPosh that they were introducing a new product – Sam the Sleep Trainer. I have to admit – I was wary that it was going to really help the way-too-early morning situation in our home.

Well – I could not have been more wrong! The ZaZu Sam is UNBELIEVABLE! We’ve all gotten our nights back and our morning schedule perfected – and it’s entirely due to Sam. In fact, he’s pretty much a member of our family right now considering how much he’s done for us and how much my daughter loves him. Let me explain what Sam does.

First off all – Sam simply looks adorable. He is available in three colors, pink, blue and grey. I wanted a clock that a child can grow to love, but isn’t cheap-looking. The clock is both modern and fun looking so it fits seamlessly into any style room.

After you set the current time on your clock, you can now set three important times your child needs to learn – bedtime, ok-to-wake time, and start-your-day time (what we call them). When Sam hits bedtime, his eyes shut automatically and the background color of the clock turns red. Children learn from traffic lights, stop signs, etc that red usually represents stopping. My daughter loves to be in her room at exactly bedtime so she can watch the eyes click shut! The clock will remain red until it reaches ok-to-wake time.

At ok-to-wake time, the clock turns yellow but the eyes are still closed. It’s up to you what kind of rues you want to set for your own child about this intermediate time. Whether they can stay in their room, get out of bed, read, etc.

And finally – official start-your-day time! When it reaches that time, the eyes pop open and the clock switches to green. My daughter comes bouncing into my room, hyper that Sam has woken up already and its time for us to do the same!

Setting all the times on the clock are really simple and the user interface is quite easy. You can choose to set an alarm for wake-up time if your child needs some prompting to get up (no such children live in my house, but I hear there are those who do:). The clock either runs on batteries or can be plugged in. It’s lightweight so you can bring it on vacation – then you REALLY need it!

I simply cannot explain to you how much we love Sam and how grateful I am that I discovered it. There isn’t one thing I would change on the clock – it’s ingenious.

Ellena

I am a regular mom of the 3 most adorable girls! I was working at PishPosh for almost 2 years before I had my first, and I pretty much knew exactly what gear would work for me and my lifestyle after my hands-on experience. I love researching new products and sharing the updates with fellow moms who care about what's new in the fascinating and ever-changing Baby Gear World.